


Born Lucky

by sokkattome



Series: Trans Gaang [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gay Zuko (Avatar), M/M, Nurse Zuko, Trans Zuko (Avatar), author may or may not be projecting some of his own trans anxieties onto zuko but it's cool, gay author, trans author
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:29:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26448580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sokkattome/pseuds/sokkattome
Summary: Zuko knew this would happen one day.He really should've prepared better.Of course, he'd imagined something like this many times. He'd see him-- or anyone from high school, really-- and he wouldn't even be recognized. They'd be immediately enamored with him and wouldn't even pause to think he looked like that one girl from high school.Instead, he has a 24-year-old Sokka cradling a swollen wrist and smiling awkwardly up at Zuko.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Trans Gaang [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2175462
Comments: 125
Kudos: 947





	1. Lucky to be born

**Author's Note:**

> I know nothing about doctor stuff

Zuko knew this would happen one day.

He really should've prepared better.

Of course, he'd imagined something like this many times. He'd see him-- or anyone from high school, really-- and he wouldn't even be recognized. They'd be immediately enamored with him and wouldn't even pause to think he looked like that one girl from high school.

Instead, he has a 24-year-old Sokka (who is recognizable by his signature wolftail even if he does look like a full-ass man now and probably thinks Zuko looks like a 12-year-old boy or, spirits forbid, a girl _oh spirits he thinks I'm a lesbian fuck this is high school all over again_ ) cradling a swollen wrist and smiling awkwardly up at Zuko as soon as he walks in.

Zuko wonders if he would even remember him if he _did_ say something (which he most certainly will not).

"Sokka?" Zuko calls out the waiting room, attempting to not make it extremely obvious that he _knows_ who in the room is Sokka.

Sokka waves meekly with his good hand.

"That's me."

Zuko nods, trying not to be immediately jealous of how low his voice has dropped since high school. "Come this way."

"So," Sokka starts as he follows Zuko down the hallway, "What's your name?"

_Oh god he knows he knows he knows-_

"Zuko." When he speaks, his voice is surprising level, considering his internal panic.

"Nice to meet you, Zuko. Cool name."

Zuko resists the urge to say, _Thanks, I chose it myself._

Instead, he leads Sokka into one of the small rooms and gestures for him to sit.

Sokka sat.

"So you're here for wrist pain?" Zuko said, opening up his laptop and beginning to type unbelievably fast. What was he typing? We don't know, that's between him and Agni. Plus Sokka's doctor.

"Yeah," Sokka laughed nervously and gestured to his swollen wrist, which was looking a bit green.

"When did it start?"

"A couple weeks ago."

Asked and answered. Zuko mentally pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What _caused_ it?"

"Oh, right," he smiled awkwardly again, and Zuko was trying very hard _not_ to find it endearing. "Well, you see, I was on a hike with some friends-"

Never a good sign.

"-and my one friend, Toph-"

Wait. Zuko remembered Toph; she'd been the only out person at their school. He'd always regretted not talking to her. He wouldn't have come out, but he could've at least let her know she wasn't alone. Zuko wondered what she was doing now.

"-dared me to climb this tree-"

Oh spirits. If Zuko had a nickel for every time someone ended up here because of a dare involving a tree...

"-and then started throwing rocks at me once I got to the top-"

Wait, what the fuck? Who does that? Zuko is beginning to feel less guilty for not reaching out to Toph.

Vaguely, he remembers her being blind and wonders how she could've aimed properly.

"-and I inevitably fell and did something weird to my wrist."

Zuko paused his typing to examine Sokka's wrist. He can feel Sokka's eyes on him as he picks up his hand to get a closer look.

"You know, you look kinda familiar."

Zuko froze.

"I feel like I know you from somewhere."

He should lie. It wouldn't be the first time, and it wasn't really _wrong_ \-- not for this reason. 

But something in him wants Sokka to remember him, even if he doesn't want Sokka to remember _that version_ of him.

So he compromises. He won't lie, but he won't tell the whole truth.

That is, he won't say anything.

Zuko shrugs, packs up his notes real fast, and books it.

"Your doctor should be with you soon," he calls as the door closes behind him.

Crisis averted.

* * *

Except it wasn't, because of course it wasn't. In order for a crisis to be averted, you have to be lucky, and, well, we all know where Zuko stands on that front.

His father said he was lucky to be born, but, all things considered, Zuko thinks the way he was born was not particularly "lucky."

He's in the grocery store at three am, because _of course_ this would happen in a grocery story at three am. He wishes he had a good excuse for being here at this ungodly hour-- something like, I don't know, _friends_ \-- but really he was just bingeing _Sugar Rush_ and suddenly _needed_ to make cupcakes very badly.

So here he is, in his sweatpants and a shirt so big it could fit three Zukos, inspecting eggs. Here he is, and there is Sokka, and he's heading over to Zuko, clearly recognizing him. Zuko wishes he could just grab the eggs and go, but he has to make sure they are all intact first (he learned that the hard way). He continues to pick up each egg to ensure they aren't cracked and thinks he maybe should've gone for the twelve pack instead of the eighteen. 

For a moment, Zuko's brain goes into full panic mode when he thinks _shit I'm not binding shit shit shit_. Then he remembers he got top surgery and hasn't worn a binder in three years.

"Zuko! Remember me? I sprained my wrist? Sokka?"

"Yep, how could I forget."

"Cool! It's great to see you again."

"Likewise."

Sokka grinned, and this one wasn't awkward or apologetic. Just radiant, room-brightening, and day-making-- like it had been in high school.

"So what are you doing here at this hour?"

What was he doing? He had been distracted by Sokka's perfect teeth.

"Um... getting eggs?"

Sokka raised an eyebrow, because, yes, he was getting eggs, and Sokka could see that.

"At three am?"

Zuko felt called out in a way he shouldn't be a fellow three am shopper.

"You're here."

"Touche," Sokka shrugged, "I have a bad habit of baking at ungodly hours."

"It's the best time to bake," Zuko says without thinking because, well, it is. And that's what _he's_ doing, right?

"Right! My sister _hates_ it, which I guess is fair since we live together so it usually wakes her up."

"I'm baking cupcakes," Zuko offers, and wow _what the hell is he doing_.

Sokka's eyes go wide at the implied invitation.

"Um, you probably don't want to bake with a stranger in said stranger's apartment at three am, though," Zuko adds quickly. Sokka considers.

_Oh spirits oh fuck shit shit_

"Actually, that's _exactly_ what I need right now. If you're serious."

"Absolutely," Zuko says automatically, because his killer instincts are more deadly to himself.

But it all pays off when Sokka flashes him that brilliant smile, and, well, there are worse people to bake with.


	2. Born Lucky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko is baking cupcakes with his high school crush. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me... a long time to figure out how to write this.

Zuko is baking cupcakes with his high school crush. 

_Zuko is baking cupcakes with his high school crush. At 3:30 am._

Well, Zuko was baking cupcakes, and Sokka was watching him work from the kitchen counter.

"Woah, you do all the fancy shit," Sokka commented, impressed. 

Zuko frowned. "Fancy shit?"

"Yeah," Sokka nodded, "Like you're a real-ass baker, measuring out all the ingredients and making filling and shit."

"Do you not do that?"

Zuko _did_ bake a lot; it was one of his coping mechanisms. He'd had to stop when he started gaining weight from all the baked goods he was eating (and the weight would _of course_ go straight to his hips and thighs), but he still indulged every once in a while. Like at 3 am with his high school crush and _holy shit he was baking with his high school crush at 3 am what the fuck was he doing._

"Nope!" Sokka said happily. He sat on one of the kitchen stools.

"Are you not going to help?" Zuko questioned. It hadn't looked like Sokka was eager to jump in before, but sitting down was more of a commitment to that mindset.

"Nah, I'd just get in the way. You clearly know what you're doing," Sokka said, waving vaguely in the air. Well, Zuko couldn't complain about that; he was a little of a control freak in the kitchen. And in life, but that wasn't relevant right now.

"So," Zuko started, eyes trained on his work as he spoke, "what had you up baking?"

He wasn't sure if he was allowed to ask that, but he figured _it was 3 am and he was baking cupcakes with his high school crush_ , so what the hell?

"Well, I'm up most nights," Sokka admitted. "Living with my sister and her boyfriend makes 3 am the only true alone time. And I may have been having an existential crisis about who I am and what I will amount to," he added casually.

Zuko nodded, carefully folding in the flour. "Get lots of those."

"So what about you? Do you find yourself baking at 3 am often?" Sokka inquired.

Zuko shrugged. "I was just watching _Sugar Rush_ and got the urge."

"So what had you up watching _Sugar Rush_ , then?"

In truth, Zuko had been up thinking about the disaster that was his high school experience. Seeing Sokka had dredged up all those bad memories -- Jet, experimenting with Mai because he thought feeling like a boy meant he was a lesbian, pining after the popular straight boy (Sokka, although Zuko has just noticed the man's nails are painted the bi pride colors and _is definitely not thinking about that_ ), Jet, dysphoria before he knew it was dysphoria, dysphoria getting a million times worse when he realized it was dysphoria, Jet (that relationship was unhealthy enough to earn _at least_ three mentions)... Then, there was, of course, his family. Coming out just before college and getting his funds taken away, then moving in with his Uncle and working at his tea shop to pay for school and hrt (both of which Uncle covered most of the cost for).

Normally, he would've called Azula or Uncle (since he had yet to master the art of _friends_ from those traumatic high school days), but Uncle would've been asleep and Azula had just moved in with her girlfriend and Zuko didn't want to bother her so soon. So, _Sugar Rush_ and baking it was.

Stupidly, Zuko said: "High school."

"I feel that, man. Our high school was the _worst_. My sister and I-"

Zuko was on the floor. Upon hearing _our high school_ , he had stumbled, and his socked feet had failed him, upending both himself and the cup of flour in his hands. Too late, he realized by _our_ Sokka had meant his sister's and his.

"Shit, man, you okay?" Sokka rushed over to help clean up the flour. Zuko didn't answer, brain still processing the last two minutes. Once Sokka had scooped the flour on the floor into a nice pile, he began to _brush the flour off of Zuko's shirt_. Zuko's face went bright red, but he didn't dare move.

"Dude, your shirt is huge. You could fit like, three of you in there."

"I know," Zuko replied automatically. 

"S'cute though," Sokka said, grinning at Zuko, who flushed an even deeper red. _Was Sokka..._ flirting _with him? Soccer captain Sokka? Boomerang Guy? Homecoming King Sokka?_ Zuko guessed he'd have to stop thinking about Sokka in high school terms. That was too painful for both Zuko and Sokka.

Having been de-floured ( _oh spirits not like that-_ ), Zuko rose with as much dignity as he could muster and continued working on the cupcakes. Sokka remained standing, staying next to Zuko like he was worried he might fall again. With how disoriented Zuko was feeling, it was a valid concern.

"Anything I can do?" Sokka offered, moving to wash his hands before returning to Zuko's side.

"Thought you would just get in the way?" Zuko smirked.

Sokka grinned that trademark grin. "Now that I've seen your mastery in the field, I feel I should use this opportunity to better my baking skills."

"Alright," Zuko said reluctantly, not wanting to be rude but not wanting to give up control. "You can do the filling." It's hard to fuck that up. Stick the chocolate in the microwave and you're halfway there.

Sokka followed Zuko's obediently, not deterred by the specificity with or the strange techniques he described. It was certainly refreshing from baking with Azula, who did everything the exact opposite of him, and refused to budge on any of it. To be fair, Zuko wouldn't either.

"Anything specific about high school?" 

Zuko nearly fell again at Sokka's sudden question before he realized it was in response to his reason for being up.

"Just... everything. Family, relationships, thinking I was straight..." _and thinking I was gay, but the other way_ , Zuko silently adds.

Sokka lets out a laugh, and it's the most beautiful thing Zuko's heard all day -- and that includes all the Cavetown songs he's listened to. "Felt that."

And wow Zuko's stomach hadn't done _that_ thing since... Well, since seeing Sokka in the halls in high school. He really had to stop thinking about high school.

"What do you do?" Zuko asks, because Sokka asked a question out of nowhere, so why can't he? Then, thinking about their previous topic, Zuko adds: "For work, I mean."

Sokka laughs again, and it's still beautiful, even if it's just a nervous laugh. "Well, right now I'm getting my masters, but I _was_ working as an industrial designer at Ozai Enterprises."

No shit.

"No shit," Zuko says aloud, then panics for a moment before remembering Ozai Enterprises is pretty well-known, and saying _no shit_ did not imply you were the son of the owner. "Why'd you quit?"

"To get my masters-" Right. Oops. Zuko had been listening, he just forgot every other thing Sokka said surrounding _Ozai_. "-and because their ethics policies are shit."

Well. Yeah.

"Yeah," Zuko agrees, nodding appreciatively. A job as an industrial designer at Ozai Enterprises was hard to get, and it took guts to quit.

Sokka the engineer. The _industrial designer._ Zuko could work with that.

"So why'd you choose to be a nurse?" Sokka asked, whisking the filling to just the right amount, like Zuko had taught him.

"The usual, I guess," Zuko shrugged. "I wanna help people, and I'm too fucked up to be a therapist and too poor to get my doctorate."

Sokka laughs again, and Zuko resolves to keep making him laugh because he will never tire of the way his voice rings through the tiny kitchen. "Is that the usual?"

"According to my class in college, yes."

"Well, I think that's very admirable," Sokka says, pausing his whisking to smile at Zuko. Without thinking, Zuko's hand goes over Sokka's on the whisk.

"You have to keep whisking until it's ready," he said, his perfectionist side taking over while Awkward Zuko takes a backseat.

And then very quickly returns as he realizes what he has done. His face flushes and he pulls his hand away.

"Aye-aye, captain," Sokka says, grinning wider.

By the time the cupcakes are in the oven, it's 4 am and there's just enough minutes on the oven timer to watch an episode of _Sugar Rush_ , which Zuko is appalled Sokka has never seen before.

"Sure, it's not the best baking show," Zuko admits, "but it is the best one on Netflix, and that makes it the best baking show by default."

Sokka considers this. "That's... a good point."

The show begins, and Sokka gasps when they introduce Zumbo, who is apparently his favorite baker.

( _You suck at baking, but you have a favorite baker?_

 _His creations are design masterpieces!_ )

30 minutes later, they're eating cupcakes with _Sugar Rush_ still playing, since Zuko's got Sokka hooked.

"Oh- you've got-" Zuko's perfectionist brain takes the wheel again as he reaches over to wipe a bit of frosting from Sokka's lip.

Again, Awkward Zuko wastes no time taking charge again.

He stares at Sokka, who's staring at him.

 _Fuck it._ He just made cupcakes with this man at 3 am. What's the worst that could happen?

Zuko leans over, closing the short distance between them to kiss Sokka. The other man reciprocates immediately, hand moving to hold Zuko's face.

It's 4:30 am, and Zuko's eating cupcakes and kissing a beautiful man he may or may not have gone to school with. Maybe he wasn't born with luck, but maybe he doesn't need it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> might do a short part 2? we'll see


	3. Reborn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko meets the Gaang. Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set several months after the last chapter

Zuko was nervous, to say the least.

It’s fine, he was just meeting Sokka’s friends. Not his parents, not his sister—well, yes his sister, because apparently, she was in his friend group. And dating Sokka’s best friend, that weird bald kid from school.

Sokka has been shocked then delighted when Zuko told him they had, in fact, attended high school together. He immediately went off on a whole spiel, informing Zuko of what had become of their former peers. Zuko couldn’t believe he knew about so many of them—but then maybe he would, too, if he hadn’t spent the past few years trying to forget everything about high school.

It wasn’t as bad when Sokka talked about it, though. Hearing how he had experienced those years—how different yet similar it was—made Zuko feel somewhat removed from it. It was nice to look back on Sokka’s years instead of thinking about pre-transition Zuko.

He wrung his hand nervously, staring up at Sokka’s apartment building from his car. 

It’s fine. It’s just Sokka’s friends. Just the people he considers blood (and one who literally is). Just the people are fiercely protective of Sokka and would be in his life forever. 

No biggie. Zuko can do this.

Besides, Zuko needs friends. Tagging along with his little sister and her girlfriend is just depressing at this point.

This is one of Sokka and the Gaang’s “movie nights,” so worst-case scenario he just shuts up and watches the movie.

So Zuko gets out of the car. Unlocks the building door with the key Sokka gave him two months into their relationship. Heads up the stairs because elevators are bullshit. Reaches Sokka’s door and knocks because he’s too awkward to unlock it himself and just _walk in_ like owns the place. Zuko shudders at the thought.

The door flies open to reveal Zuko’s grinning boyfriend.

”Zuko!” Sokka exclaims, wrapping his arms around him and giving him a quick kiss. “Guys,” Sokka turned to face a group of people sitting in the living room and _wow_ , cis people really don’t change much after high school huh, “this is Zuko! Zuko this is Toph,” Toph nodded in his direction, looking every inch Toph from high school—he guesses she’d already done all the growing up she needed. “Suki,” Suki smiles and gives a small wave. Her hair is shorter but other than that she’s the same old soccer-captain martial-arts-prodigy Zuko remembers. “Aang,” Now this kid Zuko would recognize anywhere. He’s definitely changed the most—he did skip a grade _and_ graduate early, so that makes sense—but he’s still got those distinctive tattoos on his head and along his arms. “And Katara,” Katara smiles warmly at Zuko. She looks the same, too—hair loopies and all.

”Hey,” Zuko offers and waves awkwardly. 

“So this is the famous Zuko,” Toph grunts. “Maybe Sokka will stop gushing about you every second now that you’re here.”

”Shut up, Toph,” Sokka says, but he’s grinning.

”So this is the famous Toph,” Zuko countered, “who threw rocks at Sokka while he was climbing a tree.”

Toph grins. “And aren’t you glad I did? I’m the reason you even met Snoozles.” Zuko laughs.

“Yeah, I guess I am then.”

Sokka swats his arm and pouts. “ _Baaaaaaabe_.”

”Aw, stop being a baby, Sokka,” Suki comments, “it was just a sprained wrist. A small price to pay for meeting ‘literally the hottest man I’ve ever seen, oh spirits Suki he was so hot.’” Suko says the last bit with a surprisingly good Sokka impression.

Sokka considers this. “He is really hot,” he says, agreeing with his own statement. Zuko blushes and it’s his turn to swat Sokka’s arm.

”Shut up.” 

Sokka pouts and rubs his arm. “It’s true!” he protests.

Katara cuts in. “Sokka, shut up. Zuko, it’s lovely to meet you, Sokka’s told us a lot about you. Now, tonight is normally Aang’s choice-“

”But Twinkle Toes has horrible taste, and we don’t want to subject you to a Food Industry documentary on your first Movie Night,” Toph finishes.

”It’s important issues!” Aang defends.

Katara pats his shoulder comfortingly. “Of course, babe.”

”So that makes it my turn!” Sokka says, continuing the thread. “And I pick Homecoming, because it is atrocious that you have not seen Tom Holland as Spiderman yet.”

They settle around the TV—Zuko leaning against Sokka on one side of the couch, Katara and Aang on the other side, Suki sitting in the armchair, and Toph happily sitting on the floor. 

Apparently, they’re the type to talk through movies—especially Toph, who will occasionally ask what is happening on the screen when it’s too silent to deduce—but Zuko doesn’t mind. Surrounded by stupid banter and Tom Holland stans, Sokka’s arm around him, holding his hand—Zuko feels at home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t write the scene where Zuko tells Sokka because being trans honestly should not be a big deal in a relationship and everyone needs to calm down about it. It felt wrong to write about it, so I didn’t.  
> Anyway I finally wrote this! I might add some more little oneshots if people like this, but we’ll see how my brain is feeling lol.  
> Thanks for reading!!

**Author's Note:**

> [here’s my tumblr if you want](https://sokkattome.tumblr.com/)  
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
